DESCRIPTIVE GEOLOGY : SLATE ZONE. 107 



the foot of this scarp in the stream-bed going towards Shakur Ban- 

 dee the base of the Trias, with its Megalodon bed, shales, haematite, 

 and brecciated felsite are seen directly superposed on the coarse white 

 and purple quartzites which are easily recognised as identical with 

 those near the base of the Infra-Trias. On both sides of the stream- 

 bed the section is very distinctly exposed, the strata being thrown into 

 a gentle arch at this point. Haematite is in considerable force, making 

 a very rich ore in this valley and on the gap in the low ridge to the 

 north-west. From this point its direction is alternately on the 

 ridge, and on the north-west slope all the rest of the way to Shakur 

 Bandee. Some of the brecciated felsite in the stream-bed is ex- 

 tremely beautiful. Although the basal conglomerate in the Infra- 

 Trias is not exposed in this stream, the lithological characters of the 

 purple and white arenaceous beds, and the entire accordance of this 

 section with that to be presently described on the south-east side of 

 the mountain near Bazdar where the conglomerate is present, fix 

 the horizon of these beds beyond doubt. That being so, the absence 

 of any Infra-Trias limestone in the section is at first rather startling 

 in its significance, inasmuch as it implies a very rapid overlap of 

 the base of the Trias across the edges of the Infra-Trias limestone ; 

 for the latter is well developed, as we have seen, half a mile to the 

 north-west. Other sections on the south-east and south-west side 

 of Sirban will, however, be seen to allay any uneasiness on this score 

 (see on pages 108, 109). Incidentally it may be remarked that if 

 we take into consideration the north Sirban fault, and allow for 

 the folded and compressed condition of the strata from which that 

 fault originated, the apparent suddenness of the lateral change in- 

 dicated by this overlap is considerably diminished. 



Before turning our attention to the younger rocks coming 



Sections near Mahmda, above the Trias it will be better to examine 

 Bazdar, and the ridge east 



ofTanakki. the sections mentioned in the margin as re- 



gards the inter-relations of the great Slate series, the Infra-Trias, and 

 the Trias. At Bazdar (see Hor. Section No. I) under the crag of 

 Trias limestone there is the haematite bed and a thin band of the 



( I0 7 ) 



